Friday, August 6, 2010

Doctor visit update...

Just wanted to update those that are interested in how our doctor appointments went yesterday.

My appointment went well enough. The doctor (who was very nice, by the way) put me back on the thyroid medication and will be checking up on how it's going in a month.
Since I was there for a complete physical, she also had my full bloodwork done.

I hate having my blood drawn these days.

It's not that I'm scared of needles or anything, and the pain isn't usually too bad. It's really more about the frustration of the tech not being able to find a good vein and then get that vein to flow well enough.

I have 3 more holes in me today than I did yesterday morning.

Even though I always warn the techs that it's very hard to get blood from my arms, they almost always try anyway...and always fail.
Then they go into my hand and they don't always have the "butterfly" needles needed for that, so sometime they just have to use a small straight needle which is even more tricky.

Well it was cold in the dr.'s office and then again in the lab waiting room, so by the time she tried to get blood out of my hand, my veins weren't warm enough to get the blood flowing out...so the left hand failed.

So she had to get a heat pack to warm my right hand and was finally able to get the blood going.
But having the full blood screen done plus my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) meant filling 5 vials.

Took FOREVER.

But I'm less bruised today than I expected to be and I'm just grateful that she didn't try to put the needle in the TOP of my forearm like the last one did...moron.

So anyway, I guess I'll have more information to share on my health once we get the blood results back.

As far as Jude's appointment...well first off, I have to say that Dr. Albright's office and staff were excellent and the only trouble we had was with another child in the waiting room wanting Jude's toy.

Let me rephrase that...the child wanted the toy (identical to the toy lawn mower he has at home) that Jude has already claimed as his own, even though he wasn't actually playing with it at the time that the other child tried to use it.

Anyway, he had his hearing test first and behaved really well.

But his test didn't come out as good as we had hoped.

He tested at the low end of normal.

That means that as of right now, with the fluid still behind his eardrums, he is having mild hearing loss...like having water in your ears after the shower the doctor said.

And speaking of the doctor, he was so nice and was thorough and wonderful with Jude.

He said that the fluid behind Jude's eardrums isn't pus.

But leaving it there brings a higher chance of more ear infections and of course the limited hearing.

He told us that the fluid in the ears normally drains out through the nasal cavities.

So he gave us some Nasonex spray to hopefully help the fluid drain.

We go back on the 23rd to see if the spray has helped and if not, then surgery to put in tubes on the 27th.

Like Dr. Albright said, "We'll plan for the worst and hope for the best".

I do hope Jude's ears clear up on their own.

I hate to think of having to put my 2 yr old through the process of going under general anesthesia.

Not to mention having to deprive him of any liquids or food until surgery.

That boy wakes up asking for milk!

So let's please keep praying for the best possible outcome with this.

I'm not overly worried, I just want to avoid having to put Jude through something like this at an age when I can't really explain to him what's going on.